by Philicia Tonangoye
EL CAJON, Calif. – The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, which has operated in San Diego’s surroundings for more than 30 years, recently experienced and instituted a few changes in its system and operations by implementing more effective controls due to a significant loss incurred in the past few years from fare evasion.
According to the official SDMTS website, MTS security began issuing citations to riders without valid fares on Feb. 1. Security no longer validates fares on board, so riders must tap their fare each time before boarding. Penalties can include fines starting at $25, payable through the MTS Diversion Program. MTS recommends always tapping or scanning the Pronto card before getting on board.
In other words, under MTS guidelines, riders will automatically incur a citation if they lack a valid fare while riding beginning February 1, 2025. Citations can be resolved by either paying a $25 fine or completing three hours of community service. If the citation remains unaddressed for 120 days, it may escalate to a fine of approximately $192 or higher in traffic court. Riders can also appeal the citation directly to MTS in certain circumstances. Those without prior citations may have the chance to dismiss their first citation received after February 1 by appealing through the Diversion Program. Riders need to remember that security will no longer assist as they did before. Previously, when some riders were caught without valid fares during MTS Security inspections, they were offered the chance to purchase a fare on the spot instead of receiving a citation.
This new reform results from an analysis of MTS’s fare collection, which estimates that the agency has lost between $17 million and $23 million in fare revenue due to evasion. In fact, MTS has found that more than 57,000 riders per month are not paying their fare, especially when boarding the trolley, unless an MTS Security officer takes an on-the-spot payment while the rider is already on board. Since security officers are not inspecting the fares of every rider on every trip, MTS has been losing approximately $1 million per month in unpaid fares. The agency depends on that lost revenue to keep service levels high and fares low for everyone.
Students can obtain their Regional Reduced Fare Month Pass while attending school. However, Grossmont College students must be enrolled in at least three units each semester. The monthly bus and trolley passes are available at a discounted rate of $57.60 per calendar month.
Students with a valid fare must tap their card every time they board the trolley because failing to do so will worsen MTS revenue, and they may be susceptible to receiving unnecessary citations.
Javier Mojica, a Grossmont College student, said in an email that he always taps his Pronto card before boarding and was once asked by MTS security to present a valid fare.
It is also important to note that MTS conducted education efforts about this new process from Nov. 2024 to Jan. 2025 then, beginning on Feb. 1, 2025, MTS Code Compliance Inspectors began issuing citations to everyone who didn’t have a valid fare while onboard.
